Memorial Day marks roughly the one-third mark of the MLB regular season, and in fact the Nationals - who this year did not play on Memorial Day and are not guaranteed such a game as part of the terms for always having the morning start July 4th game - have played 53 games in total (24-29 W-L), one short of 1/3 of 162. Thus it is a good time to identify some general trends to the season. On the pitching side, the Nats’ bullpen got off to a historically awful start but has since rebounded to 29th in ERA now that the worst offenders have been either demoted (Eduardo Sálazar) or DFA’d (Colin Poche, Lucas Sims). At the plate, the Nats are on pace to hit roughly 160 home runs a year after managing just 135, thanks largely to the ascendance of James Wood from “sometimes exciting young hitter with a good feel for the strike zone” to “holy $#¡^ this guy might be an MVP candidate next year.” The Nats are also not being as reckless on the bases, although they still commit more than their fair share of TOOTBLANs. Overall the Nats are playing better, and what’s most heartening is that it is almost all young players leading this development.

The Nationals had no game yesterday, but over the weekend dropped two of three to the Giants, whose pitchers held the home offense to five runs over three games in a return to form abandoned since the team meeting in Atlanta that kicked off seven wins in nine games. They will be playing in Seattle tonight at 9:40, with Mitchell Parker taking on Alla d’Armas (TBD - and h/t someone who wrote that in to Céspedes BBQ).

Let’s talk about some individual accomplishments in this section:

Potential All-Stars: Up to FOUR. James Wood feels like a stone cold lock at this point, not just for the game itself but quite possibly for the derby as well. Kyle Finnegan - a last-minute injury replacement a year ago - is second in the NL in saves and having his best season by far in FIP, having not allowed a long ball all year. CJ Abrams - on whom more later - might be the best-hitting shortstop in baseball, although he has to get picked as the third shortstop given that he is sharing a league with Mookie Betts (currently second in the NL in defensive WAR to only the electric Masyn Winn in his first full season as a shortstop at age 32, which honestly should be the second sentence on his eventual Hall of Fame plaque) and Francisco Lindor. Finally, MacKenzie Gore - also on whom more later - paces the majors in punchouts and K/9, although his ERA of 3.47 does not match the elite of the National League.

Most Significant Growth (Hitter): Abrams has yet to go through a prolonged slump like that of his May 2024 and July-September 2024. He has shown every sign thus far of taking last September’s public demotion in the wake of his all-hours casino jaunt before a day game to heart. The defense has gone from atrocious to merely below-average, the base running is much improved (his most embarrassing episode thus far in that regard was caused not by him but by the how-is-he-still-employed third base coach Ricky Gutiérrez), and the offense looks both sustainable and elite.

Most Significant Growth (Pitcher): Gore prior to 2025 had a ledger that included two arguments with teammates in the dugout that verged on becoming publicly physical and a young Strasburg-ian tendency to melt down on the mound when anything went wrong behind him. The 2025 version of Gore talked in spring training about his winter focus on upping his mental game, and thus far through eleven starts has yet to allow three runs in an inning. Only once has he failed to complete five innings - a start in Baltimore whereupon he recorded nine of his eleven outs via whiff but also surrendered a dozen rockets off the bat - and only once more six frames. His evolution as a pitcher is plain to see, and continued in his most recent start when he wore a Willy Adames line drive on the left (push-off) thigh but pitched into the seventh inning on fewer than 90 pitches and only one inherited runner later scored.

Most Pleasant Surprise (Hitter): He has since come back to earth and will never quite rid himself of his penchant to swing at literally anything, but Keibert Ruiz got off to the best start of his professional career and is still a league average hitter behind the plate at .280/.323/.366. Not only that, but Ruiz is having his best season at throwing runners out since the new rules went into effect two years ago, having hosed already half as many runners as he did all of last year. His recent swoon is largely because he - and to an even greater degree Davey Martinez - insist on pushing for too much and riding him/self into the ground early in every season, which also does not look like it is an issue that will be fixed so long as Davey continues to be employed.

Most Pleasant Surprise (Pitcher): Cole Henry had thoracic outlet syndrome surgery not long after Stephen Strasburg, and neither his 2023 nor 2024 seasons - both principally at AA Harrisburg - had been particularly hopeful. But he has been the Nationals’ most lethal reliever, with a single outing in which he has allowed any runs (five in the midst of a blowout at Citi Field). Some numbers from his fifteen appearances outside of that game: 17.1 innings, 5 hits, 5 walks, 17 strikeouts, 0 runs. Getting anything positive out of Henry after the worst procedure a pitcher can undergo is gravy. To perhaps have him turn into an elite setup man or even closer would be amazing indeed.

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